Portable charcoal burning grills have been known for many years and have proven to be quite successful for use in outdoor cooking around the home and on camping sites. Portable grills which are also collapsible for transit purposes are also known. However, a need has long existed in a portable-type charcoal burning grill for minimizing the number of components which must be assembled before a cooking operation can be started and for providing storage space within the closed and portable assembly for holding cooking instruments as well as the food holding grill components.
It has long been desirable to be able to pack the cooking apparatus neatly and compactly away. However, with presently known grill constructions, it is not possible to easily dismantle the outdoor cooking apparatus, place same within the carrying receptacle and still have room for the cooking utensils. If cooking utensils are stored within a portable-type charcoal burning grill, such as the apparatus illustrated in Skarsten U.S. Pat. No. 3,395,691, the cooking utensils would necessarily come into contact with the cooking surface defined by the grill. As a result, the handles of the cooking utensils would become covered with grease and the like thereby requiring cleaning before the further handling thereof.
Further, and particularly under camping conditions, it is desirable to be able to dismantle the outdoor cooking apparatus and store same without being concerned about the cooking apparatus being tipped over during transit and spilling residual ashes over the other camping equipment. While it is recognized that a normally careful user would dump the ashes from the outdoor cooking apparatus prior to its being packed for transit purposes, if the device is complicated to assemble and disassemble, the camper may choose not to dismantle it after every use and, as a result, the ashes which have become caked to the firepan would become dislodged and spilled onto other camping equipment.
Further, known portable charcoal burning grills do not have a pleasing appearance when in the collapsed condition and ready for transport from one position to another and are particularly awkward to handle.
Accordingly, the objects of the present invention include:
1. To provide a portable charcoal burning grill which includes means for extinguishment of the heat source;
2. To provide a portable charcoal burning grill, as aforesaid, wherein the components of the grill are all adapted to be received within a base receptacle member and covered by a cover capable of being fixedly secured to the base receptacle member to permit the charcoal burning grill to be conveniently transported from one location to another;
3. To provide a portable charcoal burning grill which, in a position of use, comprises a charcoal holding grate for holding charcoal during a cooking operation and, when the cooking operation is completed, the food holding grill is removed from the supporting structure to permit a cover to be placed over the open top of the charcoal holding receptacle to suffocate the burning charcoal for extinguishing same;
4. To provide a portable and collapsible charcoal burning grill which is inexpensive to manufacture and simple to assemble and disassemble and has the pleasing appearance of an attache case when in carrying condition.